UPDATE: Media in Science Fiction (1/19/05; collection)

Science Fiction: one universe?Edited by Nick Heffernan and Lorna Jowett.

*Deadline now extended to 19 January 2005.

Having received preliminary interest from a publisher, we invite chapterproposals or already completed essays for a collection focusing on the rangeof different media within science fiction (film, television, literature,comics/ graphic novels, computer games).

Science fiction has been examined in some detail from various perspectivesbut rarely with a holistic view. A large number of universities offerclasses in science fiction, and these classes often look at more than one ofthe media mentioned above. Consumers of science fiction are likely to befamiliar with the genre from more than one of these media. Film,literature, television shows, comic books and computer games inform us aboutwhat science fiction is and what it can do. In this book we propose toexamine science fiction across these different media in an attempt to gain abetter understanding of the genre and the ways it interacts through theseforms.

Some questions we envisage the volume addressing include:* How is science fiction identified across these different media? How dothey interact?* How do fans construct the genre from the different media?* Does the academy construct the genre from these different media or does itseek to keep them separate?* Is there a significant disjunction between sci-fi and sf? How do issuesof quality affect science fictions?* Are the major tropes of science fiction constructed or representeddifferently within these different media?* How do thematic areas compare across different formats or genres?* Are, for example, class, race, sexuality, or heroism, romance and scienceconstructed similarly or differently across different formats?

* What distinguishes the treatment of such themes in closed, short narrative(stand-alone film or novel) as opposed to their treatment in serial,developing narrative (comic book, television show, series of novels)?

* How do varying emphases on narrative and/or spectacle (according toformat) affect science fictions?* What advantages and disadvantages are there in these varying formats forthe messages of science fiction? Does the range of formats providelimitations or new departures?

Contributors might wish to address debates about what science fiction is,what it is used for, and by whom. We particularly welcome papers thatexamine more than one format, that explore the difficulties in integratingdifferent formats, or that reflect on how science fiction is used in theacademy.

Essay abstracts of 500 words, or completed papers of 5-6,000 words, plus abrief CV should be forwarded by 19 January 2005 to BOTH editors: